Eve: The Mother Of All Living

Children’s Bible Page 5.

We begin our summer series today on women in the Bible.

I am calling this series Her Story, His Plan as we will examine the biblical accounts of different women’s stories and see how God teaches us about himself, about ourselves, and about the gospel of Jesus Christ through these stories.

We will do this throughout the summer and then jump back into Romans come Fall.

Now, if you are a man here today, I want to encourage you that these messages will be as much for you as they are for the ladies as all Scripture is God-breathed and given to us by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

In my eight years of consistently preaching God’s word, this is the first time I have ever gotten the idea for a series from someone else.

My daughter Kenzie has been asking for a women of the Bible series for quite a few years. Addie jumped on board in asking as well.

If you look at my own story, God has used significant women to shape and form me to who I am today starting with my mother, my wife Robin, my girls, and others.

So, for you ladies, as well as to the rest of our church family here, I pray the wisdom and the principles that we learn in this series will be guiding posts for all of our lives, but even more than that, I pray that we would see clearly and love deeply the God who is revealed in these texts and gaze on his gospel that is revealed in and through His word.

One of the great distinctives of the Bible that makes it different from any other religious book is the way God’s word exalts and honors women.

I know that is a very counter cultural statement these days, but it is no less true.

God’s word uniquely highlights, exalts, and honors women and womanhood.

The Bible is very clear that women are considered worthy of special honor.

We are told from the very beginning that women were created in the image of God.

The Ten Commandments were the first ancient legal code that commanded children to equally honor both father and mother.

Women are honored for their unique ability to bear and nurture children.

Single women and women without children were honored as those who could uniquely give themselves in service to the Lord and become spiritual mothers to other women.

There were many courageous women who were the first followers of Jesus and supported his ministry through their businesses and their hospitality.

It was with a woman that Jesus had his longest recorded conversation in the book of John and shared with her some insights he did not even share with his twelve disciples.

It was to women that God entrusted to first go and see the empty tomb after Jesus’ resurrection.

When God wanted to highlight his great wisdom in the book of Proverbs, he chose to characterize His wisdom as a woman and to utilize the characteristics of virtuous women to teach us about a God honoring life.

Women are honored in Scripture as the weaker vessel deserving respect, care, love, and protection.

They are worthy of being especially loved by their husbands to the point of them laying down their own lives.

You may say, “Well, how is it an honor for women to be called the weaker vessel?”

Think about it this way, if my family were going shopping, and our first stop was to a hardware store, I would not be super concerned with giving a speech to my children about how we need to respect the pieces in that hardware store, to look but don’t touch.

But, for some reason only known by God, I chose to take my children into a shop that sold nothing but beautiful and expensive vases and crystal pieces, I would so want to impress on them the value, the honor, and the respect they must show these valuable weaker vessels that they are about to be in the midst of.

Anywhere in the world where God’s word has been taken and God’s gospel has made inroads are the very same places that the lives and views of women improve and are more greatly honored.

And anywhere in the world where God’s word is not present, or it is being sidelined and rejected, the lives of women and views about women deteriorate.

We are living in the midst of a culture where one of the most popular and highly debated questions of our time is: What is a woman?

May God’s people who cling to God’s gospel and God’s word take great joy and have much confidence in who God’s word says a woman is.

Eve was the first woman created by God, and Eve’s story teaches us essential things about God, about us, and about the gospel.

While there are so many things the Bible doesn’t tell us about Eve: it doesn’t tell us what she looked like, how many children she ended up having, how long she lived, or when she died.

It seems the very few places that Eve is mentioned in Scripture is to reveal to us God’s great purpose and design for women and womanhood.

Let’s read the account of Eve beginning in

Genesis 2:18–25 ESV

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

1. Eve’s Story Teaches Us About God’s Purpose In Creating Women

The creation of the first woman takes a primary and center stage in the creation account of Genesis 1 and 2.

It receives more verses and detail in description than any other description of what God made.

The pattern of the creation account was for God to create a portion of the universe and then to declare it good.

Yet, after God created the first man, Adam, we read for the first time in the Scriptures that there is something that is not good.

It is not good that the man should be alone.

There were two main reasons for this:

First, God created man in His own image.

And while that idea is multifaceted, there is no doubt that one of the things it means is that the man was created with a capacity for loving relationship that none of the others parts of creation were.

So, just as God has forever lived in the loving community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, man being made in the image of God means we were created for loving relationship.

So, it is not good for man to be alone.

Secondly, the man’s commission from God at creation was to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

So, it is not good for man to be alone, because he has absolutely no way to be fruitful and multiply on his own.

So, God says, “I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Then notice in verses 19-20, in line with the dominion humankind would have over creation, God brings all the animals to Adam in order for him to name them.

Yet, the main purpose of these two verses is not to get us to imagine what it would look like for all these animals to stand in a line awaiting their name, although that is a cool thought, but, the purpose is to make the point that out of all of God’s magnificent creation up to this point, their was nothing of His creation that was a perfect fit for Adam.

No other creation could provide the loving companionship and the ability to be fruitful and multiply.

So, as we see throughout the Bible time and time again, when mankind is in great need, God acts. God moves.

God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep.

And while Adam slept, God took one of Adam’s ribs.

And starting with that rib, God made a woman and brought her to the man.

The whole scene points out the fact that the creation of woman was God’s special grace to the man.

God did all the work and brought her to him all while he was sleeping.

The Puritan Matthew Henry writes in his Genesis commentary: “The woman was made from a rib taken from the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.”

And when Adam saw her, he broke out in poetic verse:

This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.

Clearly, the woman was a priceless treasure to be cherished, a worthy partner for encouragement and companionship, and an adored spouse who would provide loving relationship.

Before we point out what is different about God’s creation and purpose for men and women, let’s point out the more vast similarities.

This is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh.

The woman was the same as the man in her essential nature.

She was not a different kind of creature like the animals, but the same kind of creature as Adam.

She was equal in character and in intellect.

She was an equal emotional and spiritual creature as the man able to identify and relate in all these ways as equals.

She was perfectly formed to help Adam fulfill his commission from God to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

She was a perfectly suitable helper.

And while many in our culture don’t like that language, note that the only other being who gets labeled a “helper” more than women in the Bible is God himself.

God is the helper of His people where throughout all of Scripture He helps them do countless things that they could never do on their own, even to the point of the salvation of their souls.

Throughout the Scriptures, godly women do everything from marry and have children to prophecy and run businesses, they lead and organize and host and work.

Yet, in one of the only other places Eve is mentioned in the Bible, God makes a distinction between his purposes for the man and the woman.

1 Timothy 2:11–15 ESV

11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

Now, there is no doubt that there are some interpretive challenges for this passage, but let’s be clear on what is clear.

Women perform a role in the family and in the church that men cannot perform.

And that is the bearing of children, which, by the way, is considered in God’s word to be an honorable and highly exalted of role based on the commission God gave way back in Genesis 1 and 2.

And you may say, well if childbearing is such an honorable and noble thing, if I am a woman and I never have children, does that mean I cannot honor God’s full purpose for me?

Not at all.

Because, whereas the commission of Genesis in the Old Testament was to be fruitful and multiply children, the commission of the New Testament is to go and make disciples of all nations.

So, while the honor of having and raising children remains, there is an even greater honor for all people whether men, women, married, parents, or singles, and that is to go and pursue having spiritual children by sharing the gospel of Jesus and leading others to follow him with their lives.

So, while men and women are of the same essence, value, and worth, men do not bear children, only some women do.

And women do not exercise authority and final teaching responsibilities in the home or in the church, only husbands and some men in the church do.

Why? It certainly has nothing to do with strength of intellect or emotions or ability.

Many of you mom’s express as much of all those things in your work and family as I do standing up here preaching.

It’s not about that.

So, why?

Because Adam was formed first than Eve.

God gave Adam the ultimate responsibility to teach Eve His words and take ultimate responsibility and authority for the teaching and for abiding by it,

And God gave Eve the ability to bear children and to help Adam and nurture a family in a way Adam never could on his own.

It has nothing to do with ability or status but of the good design of God.

That design got backwards in the garden when Eve was deceived.

Paul is not saying that women are more easily deceived than men.

He is saying that it was Adam’s responsibility to teach Eve and take authority for the teaching.

Satan questioned Eve about what Adam had taught her about what God had said.

In other words, Satan dishonored God’s authority structure by going straight to the woman in order to subvert God’s design.

Let’s look at it:

Genesis 3:1–7 ESV

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

2. Eve’s Story Teaches Us About Humanity’s Fall Into Sin

I already noted the fact that Satan came in the form of a serpent to Eve and not Adam, which had nothing to do with Eve being more susceptible.

It had everything to do with Satan dishonoring God’s creation design where Adam would hold ultimate responsibility to teach God’s word.

And the woman is tempted by Satan the way every human has been tempted ever since.

She is tempted to question God’s word.

She is tempted to believe that God is somehow holding something good back from them and not being generous with them.

After Satan questions God’s word, he outright lies when he tells the woman that not only will she not die for disobeying, but eating the fruit will truly open her eyes and make her like God, knowing good and evil.

Now, before sin, Adam and Eve were innocent, so they did not know evil by experience.

So, the part about knowing good and evil was true, but misguided.

The only thing God had not given Adam and Eve was the very thing that would destroy them, evil itself.

You know, sometimes I have been tempted to think how silly it seems that eating a piece of fruit could plunge all of humanity into sin deserving of death and punishment.

But, I have come to realize just how gorgeous of an existence it was for Adam and Eve to live in a state of innocence where they did not know sin and evil.

Before this temptation and fall, all they knew was trust and joy in a perfect relationship to their Creator God.

So, it makes sense that they were not going to be tempted to murder or slander God’s name or some other kind of high handed sin.

It had to be subtle.

But the point was not in the subtlety, the point was disobedience to the command of the sovereign creator God.

Just like all of us, Eve was tempted by her eyes seeing what she should not have, and the pride of believing she could be better on her own and choosing right and wrong for herself, than with submitting to God’s best.

And she gave some to Adam and he ate, simply showing that both of them were willing to sin, though Adam was even more culpable being the one given ultimate responsibility from God’s word.

Notice, at the moment of their first sin, for the first time, they knew that they were naked.

So they used plants to try to cover themselves.

Why did they discover their nakedness for the first time?

Because in their sin, they were no longer clothed in the righteousness, innocence, and freedom of God.

And they dealt with the shame the way we are all tempted to deal with the shame of our sin, we try to do things to cover it up ourselves.

To prove to ourselves and others that we are all good, nothing is wrong with us, and we don’t deserve punishment.

So, Eve’s story shows us humankind’s fall into sin, but finally for today, God’s response to Adam and Eve’s sin surprises us with His grace and the hope of salvation.

Genesis 3:8–24 ESV

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” 17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” 20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. 22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

3. Eve’s Story Teaches Us About Humanity’s Hope For Salvation

Think with me for a moment.

What should the reader expect to happen as God comes to Adam and Eve just after they ate the fruit?

Genesis 2:17 ESV

17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

So, as we read that when Adam and Eve heard God walking toward them and they hid, the reader would expect God to find them and immediately put them to death.

God is perfectly holy and just and he is the one who created them, so how can they live after separating themselves from their very life source?

Note: God calls out Adam and speaks to him first, for his design is for the man to take ultimately responsibility for His word and his wife.

Adam blames Eve for giving him the fruit.

Eve blames the serpent for deceiving her.

Yet, instead of an immediate sentence of death,

God instead, in love and grace, goes straight to pronouncing a judgment on the serpent, His enemy and the enemy of his people.

The snake would now be cursed to slither and eat dust all of his days.

I always say I have a biblical reason for my absolute hatred of snakes.

But, the second portion of the judgment is even more meaningful.

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

In other words, God in his grace is not just going to give the woman over to the power and rule of Satan, instead, he will put enmity between them.

The word translated bruise in this passage could also be translated crush.

Notice, since the serpent has to slither on the ground, the worst thing he can do is crush humankind’s heel.

But, by God’s grace, the offspring of the woman will finally crush the serpent’s head.

Jesus came as the unique offspring of woman, born of a virgin,

And whereas our first parents, Adam and Eve, failed when Satan tempted them in a garden,

When Satan came to Jesus to tempt him in a garden, Jesus succeeded in withstanding the temptation and not being deceived.

Jesus was then bruised and crushed in our place for our sins on the cross.

And three days later, he rose again, crushing Satan’s head for all who would believe and receive.

And in the Revelation, we read that God will finally judge the ancient serpent by throwing him in the lake of fire.

Genesis 3:15 is the first declaration of the gospel in the Scriptures!

Notice that Eve’s consequence and Adam’s consequence for their sin was the difficulty in which they would find fulfilling their roles.

Her as a child bearer, and he as a worker of the ground.

Yet, although they faced the consequences for their sins, the ultimate defeat would not be experienced by Adam and Eve, but by the serpent.

In another beautiful picture of the gospel, God killed animals in order to properly cloth Adam and Eve, pointing us to when Jesus would die for us in order to cloth us in his righteousness.

God sent an angel to keep Adam and Eve out of the garden and unable to eat from the tree of life, for if they did, they would have lived in this state of guilt and imperfection forever.

Instead, they were redeemed by believing God’s promise of a future offspring who would defeat their great enemy.

So, by God’s grace, he offered Adam and Eve redemption through Christ,

And Adam named his wife, Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

In closing, the final thing I want to point out is the only consequence of sin I have not yet mentioned.

In Verse 16, God tells the woman that her desire shall be contrary to her husband, but he will rule over her.

In other words, our sinfulness is going to fight against God’s good design for men and women.

A sinful world will devalue women and children and family, it will devalue responsible men who cling to God’s word and teach it to their families and their churches.

Women will desire to have the man’s role. Men will desire to take the woman’s role.

Men and women will not properly honor one another in their proper roles.

May we by God’s grace and presence with us be different in His church.

May we me love, honor, cherish, treasure our wives.

May all our men respect, value, and raise the honor of women in their lives.

May our wives come alongside and help their husbands and show them proper respect.

May our women properly submit the teaching of the Scriptures.

May they be godly mothers, workers, witnesses, and disciple makers making an eternal impact for the kingdom of God, as God works through them.

Let’s pray.